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Today's Features

Alvan Pickels knows just abut every inch of Gadsden County. He can take you to some of the most beautiful, idyllic settings there are to be found in this part of Florida. That's because in his 45 years in law enforcement he has seen it all at one time or another.

Pickels came to Quincy in 1964 after he heard about an opening in the Quincy Police Department.

Two years ago Sonja Hines-Hall, a tutor with the Gadsden County Literacy Volunteers of America, met an 82-year-old man who told her he wanted to learn to write his name. His motivation was the shame he felt when he signed his name with an X. He told he her wanted to sign his driver's license.

Last month the man got his wish. Hines-Hall took him to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new license. This time, she said, he wrote his name.

• First Baptist Church in Quincy holds Sunday School each week at 9:45 a.m., followed by worship at 10:55. Sunday evening worship begins at 6 p.m. Sunday morning worship services are broadcast on Sunday events at 6 p.m. on 93.3 FM.

• Church services at Mt. Pilgrim Primitive Baptist Church are held the first, second and fourth Sundays at 11 a.m., and at 8 a.m. on the third Sunday of each month. Church school begins at 9:45 a.m. each Sunday morning.

• Thomas Memorial Baptist Church announces the Personal Fitness Challenge, a six-week program for children who have completed grades three through six. The challenge will be Monday afternoons from 2:30-4:30 p.m. through Aug. 10. Sessions will be held in the TMBC Recreation Center, 1111 West Washington St., Quincy.

• First Baptist Church in Quincy holds Sunday School each week at 9:45 a.m., followed by worship at 10:55. Sunday evening worship begins at 6 p.m. Sunday morning worship services are broadcast on Sunday events at 6 p.m. on 93.3 FM.

• Church services at Mt. Pilgrim Primitive Baptist Church are held the first, second and fourth Sundays at 11 a.m., and at 8 a.m. on the third Sunday of each month. Church school begins at 9:45 a.m. each Sunday morning.

It was a field trip like nothing the 40 students from Florida A&M University's Black Male College Explorers program had ever experienced. At the request of program counselor Barry Young of Greensboro, Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young gave permission to show the students what it’s like behind bars.

Young, along with corrections officers and inmates, didn't sugar-coat the facts as they told students the reality of jail.